Celebrate Fat Tuesday with You Can’t Beat Experience Jazz Band at LCCC

Musician Bud Shultz said fully intends to respond that way for the rest of Mardi Gras season, through Fat Tuesday, when You Can’t Beat Experience Jazz Band will perform a special Mardi Gras concert starting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, at the Alhlmeyer Auditorium of the Trimpe building on Lewis and Clark Community College’s Godfrey campus. The annual concert celebration is made possible through the generous support of the Hayner Public Library District and LCCC.

“We are officially in the season known as Carnival, which is the prelude to Fat Tuesday, the day before lent begins. It is best known to me and others as Mardi Gras,” Shultz explained.

The festival is a New Orleans tradition, though Carnival and Mardi Gras are practiced many places in the world. New Orleans was the world of jazz musician Pete Fountain, a clarinetist who brought the traditional jazz of his native New Orleans to a national audience through frequent appearances on “Lawrence Welk” and the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” television shows; the Half-Fast Walking Club, a Mardi Gras krewe founded and historically led by Fountain; and, Bourbon Street.

“I’ve never been to New Orleans on Mardi Gras. My clarinet and I have always been celebrating here in ‘the Nawth,’” Shultz said.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, a large number of Ninth Ward evacuees were sheltered at the Alton State Hospital on Illinois Route 140, Shultz recalled. The American Red Cross asked Shultz’ You Can’t Beat Experience Jazz Band if they could entertain the evacuees with some music.

“We did, and the highlight of my career was when, upon our playing ‘The Second Line,’ and some of the evacuees were marching and dancing, a beautiful elderly lady exclaimed, ‘That sounds so good — it’s like we are home,’” Shultz recalled. “We donated our services that day, but it was the greatest ‘payday’ I’ve ever experienced in my playing career.”

Tables and chairs will be set up at the Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras concert for the audience and light refreshments will be served.

“We’ll have some parasols and beads for the parades, but you’re welcome and encouraged to bring your own,” Shultz said. “I’m sure some guests will come costumed.” We’ll be done by 8 PM but we’ll pack a lot of “Good Times” into the evening.

The You Can’t Beat Experience Jazz Band is made up of Shultz, clarinet; Don James, trumpet; Jim Owens, trombone; Bob Picker, piano; George Koprivica, bass; and, Gary Morris, drums. The concert will feature guest vocalist Jared Henning. Performances will include a variety of music, from “Clarinet Marmalade” and “Tin Roof Blues” to “Just A Closer Walk With Thee.”

The concert is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required, but recommended, by calling 800-613-3163.